Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel, London

Much like baseball or arguing about abortion, improvised comedy is something the Americans do terribly well and we've never entirely managed to master. More than 20 years on from the dawn of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, improv still hasn't secured a firm foothold on the UK comedy consciousness, despite the continued efforts of its many devotees. There are, though, pockets of excellence out there, including the all-singing-all-dancing team who make up Showstopper! The Improvised Musical and now the crew behind Austentatious, who attempt to spontaneously generate a complete dramatised Jane Austen novel at every performance. Given that the group can call upon the talents of highly rated young character comic Cariad Lloyd, laughs are likely to be plentiful, and it turns out the tropes and tics of Austen are fertile territory for high-grade humour.

Leicester Square Theatre, WC2, Sun

Chris Ramsey: Feeling Lucky, On tour

TV audiences have become a great deal more familiar with Chris Ramsey's particular brand of charisma in recent weeks, thanks to his winning performances alongside Vic Reeves in BBC2's north-east romcom Hebburn. On the live scene, Ramsey's a pretty irresistible proposition, thanks to his good looks, low-key but puckishly funny observations and high-wattage charm. In the last few years, he's found himself on the go-to list of any producer looking to own the teen market. That's not to write him off as a shallow pin-up: there's real comedy craft on show here, too, of a sort that seems to assure him of a long shelf life. Ramsey's latest show revolves (with an enjoyable looseness) around the subject of luck, and while he's certainly enjoyed a fair amount of that in his rise to fame, it's a career that's ultimately built on a sizeable helping of uncomplicated talent.

Sam Simmons: About The Weather, London

There are some comedians that you feel are onstage thanks to an innate desire to entertain, and others that seem compelled to get up there and use the microphone to vent something toxic from their system. In the latter camp you'll find those comics who are driven by their own inner rage: misanthropes such as Jerry Sadowitz, nihilists like Doug Stanhope and all-round rejectionists like Australia's Sam Simmons. Although Simmons is an out-and-out surrealist, his stuff is far removed from the harmless "monkeys'n'badgers" whimsy espoused by the likes of Noel Fielding or Ross Noble. Instead, his formless approach seems to reflect his lack of belief in any order or meaning in society; and to judge from the splenetic rants that punctuate his sillier moments, it's not a state of affairs that makes him cheerful. About The Weather, the latest full-length show from this unhappy maverick, sees him tackling the mundanity of everyday life, via a mix of stand-up, audience participation and a fair amount of soul-searching.